Design Notes

MORE Birthday Gear from Dage the Evil is here!

Dage levels up in REAL LIFE! To celebrate, he's made a shop full of gear for AQW heroes of every level. Talk to Dage the Evil in Battleon tonight to unlock the Legion DoomKnight Class, the Thanatos Paragon pet, the Dark Caster armor, and more.

Legion DoomKnight Class: How to Get Yours

This is the big ticket item for Dage's birthday this year. He's been itching to recruit more DoomKnights into the Legion, and this year it's finally time! Don't be surprised if you see the character below appearing in-game later this year; Artix, Dage, and I are all eager to see the new NPC wreaking havoc and spreading Doom... because a Legion DoomKnight's gotta do what a Legion DoomKnight's gotta Do(om)!

Farm for the Class if you are a member of the Undead Legion by killing Dark Sepulchure. Merge 13 "Sepulchure's Legion Badge" items with 2000 Legion Tokens to create the Class.

Note: The original Sepulchure's DoomKnight Armor is not required to get the Legion DoomKnight Class.

Thanatos Paragon Pet

The newest Paragon Pet is here, and THIS year, it comes with a full armor set: the Evolved Thanatos armor and gear! Quest for the Thanatos gear by slaying any "Death" monster.*

The Thanatos Paragon pet has 2 other quests, as well. One awards gold and experience and the third - if you're a member of the Undead Legion - awards 50 Legion Tokens every time, PLUS a chance for an extra 10 or 20 Legion Tokens.

Update: The Soul of a Dracolich quest is changing. One of the plusses about developing AQWorlds weekly is that we can change quests as we see your feedback coming in. Early responsses about the Legion Token farming quest have prompted a change. We are testing those changes now, and it will update later tonight.

* You'll find him in /undervoid, /underrealm, and /shadowattack.

The Final Dark Caster Armor

The time has finally come: this is the final Dark Caster armor, and it's calling back to a number of previous Dark Casters. Ah, the dark, sweet memories! We've had a good run with many amazing sets, but after this year, Dage is eager to work on NEW designs and establish new traditions.

So if you're looking for a rare armor set to commemorate Dage's Birthday this year, you'll want to pick up the Shadow Dark Caster. So that future Legion members and AQW heroes can enjoy Dage's Dark Caster design, the Ultimate Dark Caster armor will return each year on his birthday.

There are two ways to get THIS gear, as well:

Buy it for ACs in the Dark Birthday shop from Dage in Battleon

Merge 1000 Legion tokens for each in the Undead Legion Merge shop

More Birthday Gear on Friday!

Like we said last week, we're spreading out the birthday gear over the course of this week. Everything that didn't release today will arrive on Friday with the storyline release - "Dage the Evil: The First Betrayal."

Defeat the Undead Horsemen to Unlock Dage's Gear!

Today, your adventure in the Underworld's Void begins as we celebrate Dage the Evil's birthday! Dage has summoned four of his champions, all based on the legendary horsemen of the apocalypse, to test your strength, valor, determination, and skill! Later on today and over the course of this week, we'll release the NEW Dage Birthday 2015 rares, including the Legion DoomKnight CLASS, the Thanatos Paragon pet, and a brand-new version of the Dark Caster armor!

Death waits for you in the Undervoid!

Battle monsters in the underworld to warm-up before the battles, then power through each of the horsemen to unlock the reward shops AND learn one of Dage's most closely-guarded, darkest secrets!

Undead Apocalypse Event Breakdown

Dage's champions fight clean but hit HARD. No fancy moves, no tricks or chicanery, just a straight battle to the death... or to victory!

Can YOU conquer Conquest?

After completing the event, you can access the rewards shop AND additional quests:

Two Legion-exclusive exp and Token farming quests

One Legend-only farming rep/exp quest

and a Merge Shop Resource farming quest! (The merge shop resources will drop from ALL monsters, but completing the quest will give you more at once.)

Champion's Gauntlet Daily Quests

Once you've beaten all four horsemen once, you will unlock the Champion's Gauntlet Daily Quests! Defeat each horseman 7 times to earn an item which completes their corresponding badge quest to unlock a character page badge!

Can you withstand War's wrath?

You must unlock each badge in order:

Defeat Conquest 7 times to unlock the "Humiliation of Conquest" character page badge!

Defeat War 7 times to unlock the "Slaughter of War" character page badge!

Defeat Famine 7 times to unlock the "Feast of Famine" character page badge!

Defeat Death 7 times to unlock the "Master of Death" character page badge!

This event will be available until April 30th to give everyone a chance to unlock these character page badges!

The Reward Gear You're Here For

There will be rewards and drops for EVERYONE in today's event, plus more birthday gear later today PLUS more Dage AND Laken gear this Friday with the new storyline release - "Dage the Evil: the First Betrayal"!

Feast on Dage's birthday rewards!

The AC versions (upgrade not required) of the full sets are available in Dage's Undervoid shop

Battle the bosses to earn the Legend-only armors and some of the accessories

Some Legend-only and free-player accessories, as well as the free-player gold Obsidian Guardian armor, will only be available from the Dark Gifts Merge Shop (Legion Tokens NOT required)

Altar of Caladbolg

Last year, Dage announced on Twitter that he wants to make the Altar of Caladbolg available while his birthday is here. (During the month of his birthday, he becomes Dage the Mostly-Good!) The Altar is ALWAYS available as a drop from the Treasure Chest, but now you don't have to rely on Luck to get it.

Unlock the Altar of Caladbolg's quest!

To make that fair for all the players who have worked hard (And spent many ACs) trying to get the drop from the Treasure Chest, the Altar's birthday price will be 5000 AdventureCoins, but the quest from the Altar of Caladbolg will also get dagger versions added to its quest this week.

So if you already have the altar, you get more gear for free! If you're contemplating getting the altar now, you'll still have to pay for it, but you're going to get more than you were yesterday!

After his birthday ends, the Altar will still be available from the Treasure Chest. If you do not want to pay 5000 ACs for the Altar but DO still want it, you can keep trying to get it as a drop from the Treasure Chest. (If you are upgraded, you get two free keys a month.)

* These rewards will only be available during Dage's birthday each year.

Begin the darkest celebration of the year with Dage

Dage's birthday isn't until Monday, but we've decided to start celebrating early, and that means plenty of evil gear for heroes of every alignment! Log into Battleon this weekend and MORE to come next week! Talk to Dage to open his Birthday Shop.

This weekend, you'll find:

Legion DoomKnight Armor

Legion DoomKnight Helm

Legion DoomKnight Blade

These are NOT rare items, but will return each year for his birthday. There are two ways to get the gear this weekend: for ACs or, if you're a members of the Undead Legion, you can buy them with Legion Tokens.

Dage's Birthday House Shop

The truly dark of heart will want to make their homes among the lost souls in the underworld, and now they can! The Legion Fortress was designed and created entirely by Dage for this birthday celebration!

Available right now:

Legion Fortress house

Sitting Skeleton guards

Legion Wall hanging

Dage's Guards

More Birthday Gear NEXT Week!

You've got the whole weekend to enjoy what's already released and to let the excitement build, because on Monday and next Friday, we've got even MORE of Dage's birthday gear heading your way!

On Monday, the Legion DoomKnight CLASS will release for ACs, for Legion Tokens (plus some special merge items), and if you have the original Sepulchure's DoomKnight Armor, you'll be able to quest for the 0 AC set, too!

Next Friday, the storyline release will take us back in time to when Dage was still Nulgath's apprentice. Battle through Nulgath's Underworld in "Dage the Evil: The First Betrayal!"

And next week we'll also have a RARE armor that many of you have been waiting for these last 12 months. Let the excitement build as you battle through AQW this weekend!!

The Watchtower has gone silent...

With the Firestorm Onslaught swarming into the area around Embersea, your blade and skill are needed for an escort mission to Pyrewatch Peak this Friday. When all communication with the tower guards is lost, ArchPyromancer Pyralis must investigate the disappearance of Embersea's latest shipment of medicine, and discover why they've gone silent!

Battle the VERY aggressive Firestorm Invaders as they swarm over Pyrewatch Peak.

Fight your way into the heart of the watchtowre to bring aid to the sick.

Discover WHY the Firestorm have attacked, and where they plan to strike next!

After you finish the storyline release, talk to Captain Asher to begin 2 farming quests and the Pyrewatch Peak Defender quest. Defeat 100 invaders in one sitting to unlock the Pyrewatch Defender Book of Lore achievement!

The Pyrewatch Armory is also open for you - all players can get the Pyrewatch Guard set, and Legends can bring home the Auric Leonine Archer gear. 8 weapons also drop from the monsters in Pyrewatch, so get in there and Battle On!

Server Rewrite Progress Report: On Schedule

Alongside the weekly release updates and the other backend projects we're working on, Yorumi is making great progress on the server rewrite. He's currently working on porting over the stat system; that is on track to be done by this Friday.

Yorumi says:

"We're changing a fair bit about how stats in AQWorlds work. The modifications will make more sense both for gameplay and in an RPG sense. More stats (especially the secondary stats) will become useful; you'll want to use more than just LUK enhancements after we're through."

For example, mages will want to have INT and WIS, Warriors will want to focus on STR. Once we reach the PTR live-test (which is still several months away), we'll have a free PTR enhancements shop so you can try out all the different combinations.

Right now, we are less than a month away from the staff-only test of the new combat system. We are still on track for SRV 0.8 (the player live-test PTR) to begin in September.

Server Rewrite Progress Chart

So that we all have a clear idea of where the server rewrite progress is at, we'll use server rewrite version numbering (SRV) and phases.

Phase 1: Porting the existing game over to proprietary server software (that we built ourselves. This is what Oversoul currently runs on).

SRV 0 - research begins

SRV 0.01 - server architecture meeting with Zhoom

SRV 0.0015 - map and characters loading

SRV 0.00175 - stat system

SRV 0.02 - staff-only test of new combat system

SRV 0.6 - full working Alpha stage

SRV 0.8 - player live-test on PTR

SRV 1.0 - full launch of Server Rewrite, Phase 1

Phase 2: Updating core game functionality on AQW 2.0. Phase 2 is where we're planning to make the changes you have all been asking for:

the buyback shop*

better PVP and guilds functionality

bank item previews

friends list syncing

adding rank 10 passives to new classes

cross-server/world chat

better anti-bot and reporting functionality and more.

We cannot start adding in Phase 2 functionality until after Phase 1 is complete.

Update: Personal Buyback Shop

We've been getting a lot of questions about the personal buyback shop. The goal is to let players get back AC items they had sold or lost. The way we would do that is by reading your account history - the AC purchase log - and putting only those items into your personal buyback shop.

That means no rare items would be returning. You - and you alone - would regain access to only the items you had previously purchased. There will need to be restrictions on this so it cannot be abused, and we do not have finalized details on what items would be eligible, what price you would need to pay to buyback the items, or what kind of wait period would be required.

Because this functionality is so far out (we need to finish all of Phase 1 first), we've got plenty of time to plan the best way to meet the goals while addressing many of your concerns. We'll announce more details about this and other Phase 2 functionality additions as we get closer to the release date.

Dage's Birthday Shop Opens This Friday!

Dage's birthday isn't until Sunday, but we've decided to start celebrating early, and that means plenty of evil gear for heroes of every alignment! Log into Battleon this weekend and talk to Dage to open his Birthday Shop.

Available this Friday in the AC Rares shop:

Legion DoomKnight Armor

Legion DoomKnight helms

Underworld DoomBlade

Dage's Underworld Fortress*

House items, including the Underworld Blacksmith with quests for additional weapons

And maybe some birthday surprises!

Additional gear, including the Legion DoomKnight Class, will be added to Dage's birthday shop on Monday, March 2nd.

* These are the first in-game backgrounds Dage has ever created - dark, deadly, and definitely the go-go home if you roll an Evil character.

Legion DoomKnight Class Details

Even DoomKnights have been known to swear, or been forced into, service to Dage the Evil. The humanity they once possessed has been wholly given over to Dage's Darkness and Doom itself.

The Legion Doomknight Class will release on Monday, March 2nd, and is a single-target hybrid. You'll want to use Strength or Int with this. In order of importance, stats are: 1)str, int 2)end, dex 3)wis 4)luck.

PvE battles (player versus environment):

With good survivability and reliable damage output, the class will be good for PvE. It has consistent, relentless damage as opposed to large spike damage crits. You won't be doing extra damage to other enemies with the way it is configured, you'll be doing bonus damage to your target, and receiving less damage from the target(but dealing and taking normal damage from other targets).

PvP (player versus player):

If you like going head to head against other players, you're in luck! This Class can stop your opponents from healing, and has a nice amount of chance to hit bonuses. It can also heal itself, which comes in handy during longer battles, and can get opponents from a distance.

Skills Preview

The skills below are not final, but we are getting SO many questions that we're releasing this preview early. (I am so glad you're all so excited!) Class designers are finalizing the numbers before testers start running them for balance. Entire skills may change before release based on what they find.

Auto Attack: Physical attack, cooldown lasting 2 seconds

Touch Of Doom: You leave a mark of Doom upon your opponents soul which slowly but surely cripples them. Applies Touch of Doom to your opponent which stacks up to 5 times. Each stack of Touch of Doom increases the damage your opponent takes from you and decreases the amount of damage they deal to you.

Soulsplit: You assault your opponent's soul directly, taking some of their power to strengthen yourself and their life force to heal yourself.

Shadow Step: Immerse yourself in the Darkness of the Legion and Doom. Use the shadows to strike at your opponent unexpectedly, doing moderate magic damage. Applies Torment for 4 seconds.

Warlord Tyndarius is Recruiting for the Scourge...

STORY TIME: Late one Friday night after a AQWorlds release, the team stayed and had serious discussions and story planning for the new continent. We choose to combine the element of Fire with the theme of the Spartans in 300. Instead of just creating some random monsters, we actually designed an army... detailing each of the roles within the Firestorm Onslaught's military.

Tyndarius is the Warlord in charge, and his story is one of tragic sacrifice and conquest. To join his army... and please note, these are the villains, not the good side that you will be a part of when the story begins... you have to do something that no sane person should never, ever do.

Which Rank Would YOU Fill In His Army?

If you could join the Firestorm Onslaught (remember, these are the BAD guys!), which role would you choose?

Scout: Locate the enemy and relay position and movement back to their commander

Soldier: Main land combat force and backbone of the Onslaught

Archer: Distract the enemy from cavalry movements by raining arrows down from afar

Ranger: Deployed in small groups on very short notice to handle problems quickly and quietly

Pikeman: Best method of stopping cavalry charges

Knight: Protect the Warlord and engage the enemy in combat

Tiger Cavalry: Battle while mounted on a trained Fyreborn Tiger to intimidate and destroy

Corporal: Leads squads of soldiers into battle

Major: Commands a battalion, directing the battle

Colonel: Commands a regiment of several battalions

General: Directly below Warlord Tyndarius. The 7 Generals make up the Council of Conflagration.

Fyreborn TigerMaster AC Tier Packages

Things are heating up in Embersea Isle as the Firestorm Onslaught begins its invasion of the Ring of Fires... and now YOU can get your gauntlets on the hottest mount armor yet: the Fyreborn TigerMaster! Starting this Friday, February 20th, at 6 PM server time, get your gauntlets on our first AC package of the year: the Fyreborn TigerMaster gear!

Fyreborn TigerMaster set comes with all 3 AC packages

We've got a lot of amazing gear coming up over the next couple months (Dage's birthday shop, Legion DoomKnight Class, Friday the 13th, and more), so if you need to restock your ACs, now's the time!*

Dark Fyreborn TigerMaster: 12000 AC Package

Get all 23 items with a 12,000 AC package - 7 items exclusive to the 12k AC package plus every item included in the other two AC packages.

This Friday, Begin the Defense of the Ring of Fires!

This Friday, journey to Embersea, once the jewel of the Firestorm Caldera, now the capital city of the newly-shattered Ring of Fire island chain. Speak with Warlord Kyron, former Captain of the Firestorm Guard, now in charge of halting the advance of the Firestorm Onslaught.

He and the townspeople of Embersea prepare for war on TWO fronts as attacks from the Onslaught increase and a vicious plague rages… They need YOU to help defend Embersea Isle and the rest of their country, the Ring of Fire!

This weekend, /join embersea to battle to defend the city from the Living Lava, Pyroclash, Coal Creepers, Fyresyn, and Pyradons fleeing from the coming Firestorm Onslaught!

Wiki will be available for normal use

The official AQWorlds wiki is going to be undergoing maintenance from Monday Feb. 23rd at 12am EST to Tuesday Feb. 24th at 11:59pm EST. During this time, wiki members will not be able to create or edit wiki pages.

Take On Nastasia for a Rare Reward!

Every night in your dreams, you see her, you slay her, but the battle always goes on! True love may be forever, but Nastasia's won't BE here forever! You'll only be able to get the Heart Slasher or Noxious Heart Slasher blades from Nastasia in /necromance for the next 72 hours! So why not grab your favorite battle companion, gear up, and start slaying?

Take the NecRomancer DOWN!

Show the one you love your battle prowess... or /party all night long with your friends as you slash your way to one of these 0AC perma-rare blades!

These blades will only be around for 72 hours, and both the Hero's Heart Day AND Friday the 13th events will leave next Friday, February 27th*!

NOTE 2: if you want a really good screenshot of your new gear (or want to send your true love a picture of your AQWorlds character, /join pinkmap for a heart-warming screenshot background!

* All Friday the 13th maps will remain open to Legends (except for the rare gear)

This Friday, Begin the Defense of the Ring of Fires!

This Friday, journey to Embersea, once the jewel of the Firestorm Caldera, now the capital city of the newly-shattered Ring of Fire island chain. Speak with Warlord Kyron, former Captain of the Firestorm Guard, now in charge of halting the advance of the Firestorm Onslaught.

He and the townspeople of Embersea prepare for war on TWO fronts as attacks from the Onslaught increase and a vicious plague rages… They need YOU to help defend their city!

Fyreborn TigerMaster AC Tier Packages

Things are heating up in Embersea Isle as the Firestorm Onslaught begins its invasion of the Ring of Fires... and now YOU can get your gauntlets on the hottest mount armor yet: the Fyreborn TigerMaster!

Dark TigerMaster: only available with the 12k AC package

Starting this Friday, February 20th, at 6 PM server time, get your gauntlets on our first AC package of the year: the Fyreborn TigerMaster gear! Get all 18 items with a 12,000 AC package, or get the armor and select accessories with any other AC package of $10 USD or more. Select items from the Fyreborn Tigermaster sets will also be available in-game from shops in your game menu and in Embersea Isle!

Thank you for supporting AQWorlds!

Legendary Heroes are some of Lore's most skilled and valued heroes. As our way of showing appreciation for your dedication, choose a free 1 hour boost every day you return to battle! Log in and talk to Ragnar, then accept and complete the free Daily Boost quest; choose a single rep, gold, exp, or class points boost as a reward!

Voltaire Loves You, Friday the 13th, and AQW!

It's the weekend of Friday the 13th and you know what that means? It means that Voltaire has returned, as he has every Friday the 13th for the last 6 YEARS! However, instead of leading a live event as he has in the past, this time you'll need to get his help finding one of the gifts for Jagger's girlfriend. AND you can replay all our previous Friday the 13th events!

This year we will ALSO have the 13th Friday the 13th event (in November!) so we need to do something BIG! But right NOW, Voltaire is giving away two download cards with EVERY SINGLE ORDER from the webstore from now until Monday at noon Eastern Standard Time.

These cards contain codes that allow you to download a whole bunch of exclusive in-game pets that were only ever available to people who played Voltaire's events live and purchased one of his Deady vinyl toys. But now you can get them when you purchase anything at all from the store! Supplies are limited so order now!

This offer is available only at Voltaire.net and not in the European webstore.

But YOU Can Get (Un)Lucky This Weekend!

Tonight is Friday the 13th: undead love and invasion are in the air, because it’s the most nec-ROMANTIC Hero’s Heart Day since 2009! True love never dies, but sometimes you need to choose between your love… and the world! Hunt for Voltaire, Lore's favorite gypsy pirate musician and battle through Lore to defeat an undead invasion and help Jagger retrieve the 13 Dark Gifts his love, Nastasia, desires!

NOW: /join necromance to begin your quest to help Jagger and his girlfiend (I mean girlFRIEND) Nastasia have the best Hero's Heart Day EVER!

You'll need to:

Bring her gifts

Bring her DIFFERENT gifts

Stop an undead invasion by battling across the world

And finally, choose whether to slay or save the Necromancer!

Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th Gear!

We've got a ton of the most heroic, heart-filled gear for Hero's Heart Day, and a bounty of the most beautifully-unlucky Friday the 13th gear a necromancer(/slayer) could hope for!

Talk to Quibble in Battleon to get the Unlucky Quibble Bank pet! You'll also find the Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th shop there, with Gravelyn's Doom Fire cape (based on and priced the same as the original Doom Fire cape from 2009) and the Dark Heart StarSabre!

If you /join necromance, you'll also see the Hero's Heart Day/Friday the 13th rares shop, which contains the armors featured above. Jagger's Unlucky Love shop also has the Gold variation of the Dark StarSabre (which will return each year).

Once you've completed this year's release, battle Nastasia for a chance to get the seasonal rare Elegant Gothic Valentine armor set or the RARE Pink version of the Dark Heart Saber!

And don't forget to /join pinkmap to take heart-filled screenshots of your favorite gear and /group of friends!

Happy Valentine’s Day: 200 Free AdventureCoins!

We love our brave heroes, so you deserve something extra special this Hero’s Heart Day. Log in between Feb 13th - 20th and get 200 AdventureCoins!

You must be level 10 or higher (becasue, you know, you gotta be responsible when spending those AdventureCoins).

The Unluckiest Hero's Heart Day Yet!

Those of you watching our Twitter feeds today saw a running commentary of bad luck and bug smashing! From our release coder/animator being stranded in the middle of nowhere* to an Adobe Flash Player update blocking some of our players**, to the seriously creepy clown***, this has been one Hero's Heart Day I will NEVER forget! (Fortunately, there's not another Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th crossover until 2026!)

Take On the Red Dragon for a Rare Reward!

True love is forever, but you'll only be able to get the Dark Heart Harvester scythe from the Red Dragon in /lair for the next 72 hours! So why not grab your favorite battle companion, gear up, and start slaying?

Take the Red Dragon DOWN!

Show the one you love your battle prowess... or /party all night long with your friends as you slay your way to one of the sharpest, darkest scythes in game!*

NEW: if you want a really good screenshot of your new scythe (or want to send your true love a picture of your AQWorlds character, /join pinkmap for a heart-warming screenshot background!

Join us tomorrow night for the "Fridayr the 13th: True Love Never Dies" Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th double event!

* Some of you DragonFable fans might recognize this as a darker version of the Love Harvester... and you'd be right! Tomix sent us some very shiny DF art a while back, and this is the perfect time for it!)

Do You Have What It Take To Create Art For AQW?

Do you dream in vectors? Is Flash your favorite program? Are your shading skills up to speed? If you think you've got the skill, talent, and drive to create art/animation for AQWorlds, we want to see YOUR portfolio!

With school and work having stolen much of our artists' time, we are looking for a few great AQW fans to become volunteer assistant developers, and hopefully, if things work out in the future, full time staff members of AE.

So we want to see what YOU can do!

Here is what we are looking for:

Experienced Item artists and animators

Experienced/Talented/Skilled Background / Environment Artists

Artists who can mimic the AQW style

Artists who have experience with Adobe Flash

We will be looking at your AQW account history to make sure that you have a clean record. We are looking for artists who are mature, responsible, excited about contributing to AQW, willing to take criticism and make changes accordingly. We would like a few people to help with art for monsters, armors, and items but We are ESPECIALLY looking for artists who can match Dage's item and J6's background/environment styles.

Include your Master Account name and email address tied to the master account.

Include your Forum account name and email address if you have a forum account.

Include all Languages you speak/read.

Include a Resume (C.V.) *please note we'd like the resume in English.

Include links to your online art portfolio or attach examples of your art. (Please note that art will be checked for plagiarism.)

Link or attach your animation reel if you have one.

We are posting this on the Design Notes first because we ALWAYS want to get people from our community before looking outside the AE family, but if you happen to know someone who does not play, fits the criteria and would like some experience in the gaming industry please feel free to let them know.

You must be at least 16 years old to be considered for this (these) position(s).* If the application is not complete, we will toss it out. And please - one application per person. We will read and consider all applications, but cannot reply to them all. If you are chosen to go through a further interview, we will contact you by e-mail. If we do not respond, we want to thank you for being awesome enough to volunteer!

Please note that this is an unpaid, volunteer position but does come with in-game dev status, free AE game memberships, AdventureCoins, the chance to test game content as we develop it before release and invaluable experience with a honest-to-goodness gaming company which will look good on ANY future resumes.

Thanks, good luck and Battle On!

* We prefer age 18+ but will make exceptions for talented artists 16 and older, with parental permission.

Get (Un)Lucky For Hero's Heart Day!

Just as you think it's safe to start addressing all your Hero's Heart Day cards, you see the date and A ZOMBIE RIPS THE ENVELOPE OUT OF YOUR HANDS!!!! That means only ONE thing in AQWorlds - Friday the 13th / Hero's Heart Day DOUBLE FEATURE! This holiday crossover hasn't happened since 2009, so we're making the most of it with 1) a good new-fashioned love story, 2) a classic undead invasion, and 3) VOLTAIRE!

Lore's favorite gypsy pirate musician knows what you need to help bring our two young heroes together, but he's only got ONE of the 13 gifts you'll need to help Jagger win the heart of his true love, Nastasia. Will their love prove to be eternally-undying? That's going to be up to YOU!

Dont' miss this week's other releases:

The Legend-only Daily XP Boost quest returns in Battleon!

Get all the gear you love in the Friday the 13th / Hero's Heart Day rares shop!

Keep the city of NorthPointe Safe... If You Can!

This weekend, journey to the town of Northpointe, your hometown on the continent of Drakonis. Gear up, listen to the townspeople’s rumors, and defend this safe haven from creatures driven to frenzy by the Queen of All Monsters minions! As her influence begins to spread, there is only one question you must answer: is anywhere safe?

Rumors of plague AND of invasion have begun circulating around Northpointe. As you battle, speak with each of the NPCs to learn more about what's to come!

Meet the Residents of Northpointe

Northpointe is full of refugees who will be moving on to other towns on the fractured island of Drakonus, but these fine folk have decided to make a life here. They've got quests, shops, and rumors aplenty for you! Battle to keep their home safe, earn their trust by raising your Northpointe reputation, and unlock over 50 new items!

Cleric Crystal, Northpointe Reputation Vendor

Magnus Steel, Guardian of Northpointe

Reens, Alchmist and Potion Shop Vendor

Dufar Deepstone, Dwarven Weaponsmith

Myrini StarEye, Astromancer and Magic Shop vendor

Faith the Beastmaster, Pet Shop Vendor

Flash RivenTree, Haberdasher and Accessories Vendor

Bryce ElderWind, BrightShield Recruiter

Shakaz, Shadowrise Recruiter

Valarth, Havokrun Recruiter

This... Is... NORTHPOINTE!

Note: in order to unlock Bryce, Shakaz, and Valarth's shops, you'll need to gain rank 10 Northpointe reputation. After all, they've heard stories about you, Hero... and they're not sure WHERE your allegiance lies right now. You've got to earn their trust, and it won't be easy.

Check out Quibble's New Firestorm Gear!

Firestorm gear from the past, present, and future is burning the leather of Quibble Coinbiter's pack... and all of it is ready to blaze into YOUR inventory! AQWorlds' very own time-traveling sales moglin is in Battleon RIGHT NOW, but he won't be there long, so you'll want to dig through his chest of never-before-seen-slightly-used items and rares while you can!

Firestorm Knight armor set on the left

Member-only Golden Firestorm Fury armor set on the right

What's a Quibble Coinbiter?

Not exactly sure who Quibble is, or how he gets all that gear? Neither are we... for sure. But I hear he's got a deal with a time-travel fairy who brings him gear... even if it hasn't been forged yet! The items might show up later in the game or might be Rares that are NEVER seen again!

You'll see a handful of items in Quibble's shop tagged as "Awesome;" that means it will NOT go rare, but will return in several months when we journey to Phoenixrise Gate and the Firestorm Keep (near the end of our new Saga).

This gear is HOT!

If you can't stand the heat, you'd better not join the Firestorm! But you CAN /equip some of the hottest new gear in Quibble's shop!

First Look at the new Firestorm Quibble Gear!

Firestorm gear from the past, present, and future is burning the leather of Quibble Coinbiter's pack... and all of it is ready to blaze into YOUR inventory! AQWorlds' very own time-traveling sales moglin arrives in Battleon this Friday, February 6th, but he won't be there long, so you'll want to dig through his chest of never-before-seen-slightly-used items and rares while you can! Keep reading below for previews of Dage's Firestorm Onslaught Spartan gear!

Firestorm Knight armor set on the left

Member-only Golden Firestorm Fury armor set on the right

What's a Quibble Coinbiter?

Not exactly sure who Quibble is, or how he gets all that gear? Neither are we... for sure. But I hear he's got a deal with a time-travel fairy who brings him gear... even if it hasn't been forged yet! The items might show up later in the game or might be Rares that are NEVER seen again!

AQW is evolving right in front of your eyes!

If you've been with us for a while, thanks for playing! You'll see that we've been changing a number of features and functionality inside AQWorlds. If you're new, hi! Welcome to AQWorlds! You've come at a really key point in our game's lifespan.

AQWorlds is over six years old now; we've grown so much since 2008, and over the years, we've defeated scores of villains. But one of the most dangerous enemies of online games is staring us straight in the face, and we are doing all we can to fight it - stasis. We need to move forward, evolve, and change with the times. To keep AQWorlds alive, we need to GROW and IMPROVE and CHANGE.

Because AQWorlds updates on a weekly cycle, the development for improving and updating the game take place alongside weekly releases. That also lets us have YOU guys test the changes as they are being built (once we reach a stage where you can push buttons and have something happen).

Several of these projects (like the new world map and the quest UI) are in live-testing. We do this to see how the new functionality will hold up under load. So, below is where those projects and others stand, and where we're headed next:

New World Map

The new world map is designed to both help you navigate the world and give a better idea of story progression. We call these "adventure maps." They aren't 100% geographically accurate; instead, they show you where you're headed next in the story.

New Quest/NPC Interface

The quest/NPC interface redesign is taking place for a number of reasons: 1) the current appearance is outdated. We've got to keep AQW looking fresh and appealing. 2) many new players have difficulty using/understanding the current system. 3) by re-doing the UI, we can improve and add to its functionality.

Current version, changes in the works based on feedback

Changes left to make:

Appearance updates based on player feedback (making it less claustrophobic, more fantasy)

Adding in the "turn in quest from anywhere" functionality (the quest box in the upper-right side of the screen will call the last NPC pop-up you accepted a quest from)

Bug fixes to current version

New Tutorial

The new tutorial is a VITAL project! When a new player first joins AQWorlds, we want to excite them, engage them, and TEACH them how to play the game. Based on your feedback, this version of the tutorial meets those three goals the best. You've also sent in additional ideas on how to improve the tutorial (thanks!).

Changes left to make:

Add in player suggestions

Load tutorial videos directly into the game

Add in helper cutscenes on Nythera and Sora

Add in email confirmation reward

Server Rewrite Progress Update

Almost exactly a year ago, I posted a Design Notes about the server rewrite project. We have a good deal of control over the game, but currently we are using server software whose base we did not build ourselves (though we created all of our server-based game functionality)... and that means there are some things we cannot change. But we CAN rewrite the server!

Due to a number of additional top priority projects (like the Facebook integration, the quest interface, and others) and delays (the end of the Chaos Saga, the holidays, etc), work on the server rewrite has been delayed.

BUT! As of January 1st, the server rewrite project is officially BACK in action! Yorumi has already made a lot of progress. He started researching again this past December, and met with Zhoom in early January.

Server Rewrite Progress Chart

So that we all have a clear idea of where the server rewrite progress is at, we'll use server rewrite version numbering (SRV) and phases.

Phase 1: Porting the existing game over to proprietary server software (that we built ourselves. This is what Oversoul currently runs on).

Are You Ready To /Party?

Usually the end of the year is considered the holiday season, but February has just been FILLED with them - Valentine's Day, Friday the 13th, Pancake Day, and now... Chinese New Year and Carnaval! That means only one thing: the party continues!

This year, we're celebrating Chinese New Year and Carnaval in the same week, because bigger parties are better! So grab your beads, feathers, sparkly costumes, chinese lanters, and cheongams and get the celebration started! /join akibacny or /carnaval (or talk to Miko and Frevo in Battleon) to begin the adventure!

Don't Forget Your Party Clothes!

Can't go to Carnaval without a Samba costume! We have a ton of Carnaval gear to help you celebrate, including two gorgeous full sets for free players: Roroth's HarleQuint set and the voodoo-themed Samba costume pictured below...

It's Carnaval in Terra da Festa! P

Carnaval (or Carnival/Carnivale in other parts of the world) is the world's largest party. Every year more and more people from all over the globe celebrate this festival of fun and transformation but NOBODY does it like Brazil! It is a week-long party full of parades, food, fun and friends where your normal life is overturned and everyone generally goes nuts, and it's finally come to LORE!

Batista, one of our volunteers, translated the release!

In the town of Terra da Festa, the party is in full swing bringing you amazing party outfits inspired by those seen in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Some of out Brazilian players have complained that the previews of the outfits were not a revealing as the real deal, but we wanted to keep the game friendly for everyone so we had to tone them down a little.

Members will find special bonus quests with special Member Only rewards, but there are shops and an AC Rares Shop and other quests for everyone to enjoy! In an AQW first, players from Brazil will find the ENTIRE release has been translates into their native tongue.

We want to thank all of you for your support! Obrigado Pelo Seu Suporte Have fun and Happy Carnaval!

Chinese New Year of the Sheep 2015!

This year you get a double dose of international celebration! On the other side of the planet in China, everyone is celebrating Chinese New Year . In /Akibacny the princess of Yokai Island,Ai No Miko, and the river dragon Panlong need your help once again.

In AQW it has become tradition that we sell a Non-Member AC pet to go with the theme of the Chinese New year. This year it's the Yokai Ram to honor the year of the sheep! We are adding a few truly amazing Rare items that you will never see again in the Chinese New Year Shop too. Such as... Memet's Golden Yang set!

You will also find a number of Member and Non-Member Seasonal Items returning to earn while Chinese New Years lasts! Happy New Year!